In this episode, we talk to Ben Lee, Head of Data and AI at Bidwells. Ben shares how a 130-year-old traditional property consultancy is using AI to target a doubling of revenue without a proportional increase in headcount. He moves past the technical jargon to explain why the most important skill in the AI age is ‘translation’, the ability to bridge the gap between business problems and technological solutions. What you will learn:
- The Power of Translation: Why Ben’s background in journalism was the perfect preparation for leading an AI department.
- Triage and Innovation: How Bidwells uses a Technology and Innovation Committee to ensure they are solving business problems, not just chasing shiny tools.
- Build vs Buy: The strategic framework Bidwells uses to decide when to develop proprietary tools and when to leverage the Microsoft stack.
- The 4-Bucket Project Model: A practical look at how to categorise AI projects from simple ‘self-serve’ tasks to enterprise-wide transformations.
- Critical Thinking over Coding: Insights from a student hackathon that proved understanding the problem is more valuable than complex machine learning.
- The Mandatory Performance Goal: Why Bidwells now requires every employee to identify one area of their work to be supported by AI.
Read the article – How a 187-year-old property firm is rebuilding around AI
